Airship



. i-img 28, 1928.

H. STROBL AIRSHIP Filed Feb. 18, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet Fmi.

fig 2.

4. Kr l v 6 G A :Q A: P 5 4.

llwelzr:

Hans Sfr-05! I fjh'forneys,

H. STROBL Aug. 2s, 192s.

Arasarr Filed Feb. 1e', 1927 2 Sheetsf-Sheet 2 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIC HAN S STROBL, OF BERLIN-TEMPELHOF, GERMANY,

Patented Aug. 2 8, 1928.

AssrGNoR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS TO LUFTSCHIFFBAU ZEPPELIN G. M. B. H.,

SEE, GERMANY.

AIBSHIP.

Application med February 1B, 1'927, Serial No. 169,176, and 1n Germany Iarch 2, 1926.

My invention relates to gas-inflated airships and more especially to ships of this tyle having a rigid hull.

uch airships generally are subdivided into compartments into which flexible bags are inserted for the purpose of being inflated with gas. .Such bags are of substantially cylindrical shape their circumferential walls following. more or less the outer stream line shape of the airship hull. i.

These bags or gas cells may be totallyinlated with gas or only part of their capacity may be made use of. Gas cells containing lifting gas in rigid airships will change in the percentage of inflation in accordance with ythe ration of the highest level reached and the altitude in which the ship may be travelling in the respective moment. That is why the walls of the gas cells have. to be flexible so as to allow 'for their being folded under the increasing outside air pressure while the ship is descending. l

According to my invention am providing flexibility of the gas containers only in their lower portion. IThis will do perfectly for the usual performance because an airship generally will not have to climb up higher than corresponds to 30 to 35% expulsion of their gas volume, especially not in transportation service. The upper portions of the gas containers I make of stretched material. This has the advantage that any other gas tight material may be used for the upper portions of the as containers which need not be pliable. uch materialmay be much lighter and thus cause a saving in weight. Furthermore it will last much longer because of its being less exposed to ill treatment.

The construction according to n iy invention-is of special advantage in airshi s which dispense with.an air jacket in their upper portion so that their upper outer cover may take the place of the stretched material and form itself the upper wall of the gas containers. The lower portions of the containers then may be fastened to this upper portion somewhere about its equator for example, so that in the lower part of the ship there exists an outer shape giving stretched e cover and an inner `flexible wall confining the vfrom the stretched wall vention is with metal clad ships. Probably it will not do with such ships to have onl one gas space and an air ballonet. Wi

bigger ships it-will become necessary to subdivide the the. like following the example of the other rigid airships. Now it would be an unnecessary loss in weight if in such ships gas bags of the usual type were provided. It willhdo perfectly tomake use of my invention and to provide only lower flexible bag portions but giving them such dimensions that their walls, when there is no gas in the ship, may fit into the hollow upper portion of the ships hull. This also will allow for an easy process of inflation of the ship proper which otherwise may be rather a problem. In case my construction OF FRIEDRICHSBIAFEN, BODEN- i gas space into compartments or follows: The flexible lower wall or a gas container is folded u ward to fit closely on the inner surface of) thex'upper stretched material (sheet metal for instance). The gas is blown in between these=two touching walls causing the flexible wall to separate and to move downward in accordance with the increasing inflation.

Of course the transverse bulkheads (so to say) in such ships may also consist of an upper rigidly stretched portion to which two lower flexible portions, one for each of the adjacent compartments,vmay be fastened in any suitable way.

Having given a general explanation of my invention I now Want to point it out more in detail referring to the drawings which repn resent examples embodying my invention.

Figs. l and 2 relate to a rigid airship of the so-called Zeppelin type having a skeleton made of longitudinal and transverse members over which an` outer cover is stretched and into which gas cells are inserted. Fig. l respresents a diagrammatical cross section throughthe hull of such a ship and Fig. 2 is a diagrammatical longitudinal section in part and corresponding to Fig. 1, but on a smaller scale.

In Figs. 3 and 4 a metal shown. also in a mere diagrammatical man ner. Fig. 3 is the cross section through the hull, and Fig. 4 the corresponding lon tudinal section in part, also on a smal er scale. i

clad airship is Referring to Figs. 1 and 2:

The longitudinal girders are designated by the numeral 1 and the transverse girders by 2. The outer cover 3 is stretched over these girders but it is not shown in Fig. 2. Inside of the hull the gas spaces G are confined by upper cell Walls 4 stretched between the girders 1 and fastened to them by strips or the like 5 and by the lower cell portions 6 which are flexible and may for example take the shape shown by dotted line 7 in Fig. 1.

Referring to Figs. 3 and 4: The metal shell 11 in its. upper portion has bulkheads 12 subdividing the upper gas space of theI hull into compartments. To

I do not Want to be limited to the details described or shown in the drawings, as many variations WilIoccur to those skilled in the art.

lVhat I claim is:

A rigid airship comprising an outer shell; transverse Walls in the upper portion of said shell subdividing it into cor` artments; the Walls of two adjacent ones o said compartments being gas-tight; two gas-tight bags, each of said bags being Widely open at its top; the rim of the upper opening of one of said bags itting and being fastened to the lower end of one of said gas-tight upper compartments; the rim of the upper opening of said second bag fitting and being fastened to the lower end of said second gastight upper compartment; every one of said two bags together With the space of its corresponding upper compartment forming a gas cell; the Walls of said bags in size and shape being adapted to it also closely to the inside of the corresponding compartments, respectively.

HANS sTRoBL. 

